Shoya Tomizawa overcame treacherous conditions during free practice for the fifth Moto2 round of the season to set the early pace at Silverstone.

The Japanese rider, currently second to Toni Elias in the overall standings, hit the top of the timesheets during the second-half of a sodden session to end up more than half a second faster than his closest rival, that being reputed wet weather specialist Anthony West.

The former Kawasaki MotoGP rider, competing for minnows MZ Racing this year, once again displayed his prowess in slippery conditions to occupy the top of the timesheets for much of the hour, but he would have no response to Tomizawa.

With no dry line emerging as rain fell steadily throughout the session, five different chassis manufacturers would fill the top five positions with Xavier Simeon the leading Moriwaki, Karel Abraham fourth for FTR and Alex de Angelis in fifth on the Force GP2, although the latter Sammarinese would blot his copybook with a fall in the closing minutes.

With no British competitor in MotoGP, Scott Redding is the top home hope at Silverstone this weekend, the local man doing a fine job to go sixth fastest on the VDS Suter. Wild-card countryman Kev Coghlan was 39th best.

Alex Baldolini, Dominique Aegerter, Arne Tode and Jules Cluzel made it an overall unusual top ten as many of the more fancied riders featured lower down in 40-strong field.

In fact, only two riders – Tomizawa and Cluzel - in the overall top ten featured towards the front at the end of the session, while Elias (first), Simone Corsi (third), Sergio Gadea (fourth), and Andrea Iannone (fifth) were only 22nd, 21st, 29th and 27th respectively.

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